On Sept. 4, The Reflector published an opinion piece I wrote outlining ways the Democratic majority in Congress could increase their chances of passing health care legislation that attempts to finally solve the crisis within our decrepit American health care system.
In the article, I mentioned Democrats should be more willing to compromise on some of their plans in order to gain Republican support on reforming health care. On Sept. 8, President Barack Obama sought such bipartisanship with GOP leaders via a nationally-televised address to Congress; but instead of showing mutual interest in working with the president, the Republican leadership immediately rejected any offer of compromise. Rather, they chose to criticize any proposed ideas while offering no solutions on the matter at all.
This is the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back. For nine months, congressional Democrats have allowed Republicans to use paltry excuses, impious scare tactics and damnable indecisiveness to prevent them from moving this country on the path of affordable health care.
In a time when the American people face some of the most difficult public policy issues, it is simply despicable to see elected Republican congressional leaders stick to these type of partisan tactics rather than work across the aisle to make health care available and affordable for all citizens.
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor’s town hall meeting on Sept. 21 is a prime example of Republican ineptness sweeping Congress now. During his town hall meeting, a constituent presented a real-life scenario concerning a close relative’s declining health. She explained to Cantor how her relative, a hard-working American who had recently been laid off and is uninsured, has rapidly-growing tumors in her abdomen. She then asked what he would suggest her relative do for help.
Cantor’s answer was to simply seek the help of charity for her medical needs or apply for some sort of current government program in which she is 75 percent likely not to qualify for because of income or age restrictions. This scenario presents the flaws of our American government. We have little to no safety net for Americans who face health care situations like the one presented to Cantor. Yet Cantor and the majority of Republicans currently in Congress are fighting tooth and nail to prevent such legislation from passing which could aid the American people.
But it doesn’t end there. Congressional Republicans continue to find excuses as to why they cannot support even the idea of overhauling the healthcare system. The two most recent excuses focus on time and tort reform. Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), one of the only members of her party that once expressed interest in bipartisan participation in the debate, now touts the pace at which Congress is pushing for healthcare reform as too fast for plausible results.
Even the GOP’s heavyweight and Mississippi’s native son, Gov. Haley Barbour, has pitched his opinions on how lack of tort reform is the main culprit of excessive medical costs to consumers.
There’s something rotten in the state of Denmark with these two excuses. Even if the issues of tort reform and the speed at which reform is being pushed troubled the Republicans, why is it not one single Republican leader has had the courage to present alternative solutions?
Could it be these excuses are nothing more than a political ploy to undermine the fact the GOP really wants to stall long enough for Obama and his Democratically-controlled Congress to fail at providing successful reform within the health care industry or any other avenue troubling our country today? You better believe it.
Because it is obvious congressional Republicans simply want to obstruct the president and the Democratically-controlled congress from succeeding in any attempts to change the status quo in the health care industry, it’s time for Democrats to push Republicans under the bus and make change happen now. In other words, Democrats should attempt to reform health care alone without Republican support. They have the power to do so, and now is the best time to do it.
In the end, Democrats have a choice to make before the end of fall 2009. They can choose to allow the Republican minority to continue to deter any possible reform or they can continue to stress that health care is a right and not a privilege, and inaction on the issue of health care reform will be far more dangerous to our republic than any proposals currently offered.
Vick Warnsley is a senior majoring in economics. He can be contacted at [email protected].